THIS is apropos the ‘Tobacco manufacturers lobby to scuttle govt decision’ (May 16). According to the news, tobacco companies are exerting pressure on the government to withdraw its decision of increasing the size of pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs.

The argument being given is that by increasing the size of health warning on cigarette packs there would be decrease in the sale of tobacco and thus the country’s economy would be affected.

The tobacco industry has a long history of giving similar arguments in whichever country tobacco control measures were taken. Several years ago when airlines decided to make flights smoke-free, the airline industry tried to resist the change by saying that the industry will collapse as smokers will not travel. Subsequent years showed that there was no drop in the number of people travelling by air.

Similarly when Europe and the US decided to declare all public places smoke-free, the tobacco industry warned that the hotel and restaurant industry would go into loss as a result of this decision. Once again the tobacco industry was proved wrong and there was no decline in people visiting hotels and restaurants.

Our government needs to understand that the revenue of Rs75bn that it generates from the tobacco industry every year is far less than over Rs100bn that the public spends on treating diseases caused by smoking.

Economy based on tobacco is not longlasting. According to the World Bank report, tobacco is not good for any country’s economy. It rather makes the poor country even poorer. Our government must resist all pressures from the powerful tobacco industry; after all it’s the responsibility of the state to protect the health of its citizens. Tobacco no doubt is the single largest cause of disease, disability and death in Pakistan.

Pictorial health warnings on cigarette boxes is a proven strategy to prevent younger people from taking up this powerful addiction which kills over 100,000 people every year in Pakistan.

The government must introduce larger-sized pictorial health warnings on every cigarette pack sold in the country as soon as possible.

Javaid A. Khan

Chair, National Alliance for Tobacco Control

Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2015

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